


Kiss, Kiss Fall In Love

by keijisoo (myungsoopermans)



Series: HP!AU [2]
Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Crack, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-17
Updated: 2014-09-17
Packaged: 2018-02-17 20:01:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2321549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myungsoopermans/pseuds/keijisoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"god f*cking dammit<br/>can’t you just kiss already<br/>jesus f*cking christ"</p><p>-- 'A haiku dedicated to MyungYeol' written by Howon&Woohyun</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kiss, Kiss Fall In Love

**Author's Note:**

> This is not an Ouran High School Host Club AU. I repeat, this is NOT an Ouran High School Host Club AU (although I really wish it was). Also, not everything in this story is accurate to the HP universe. I tried to be as accurate as possible but to be quite honest, I made a lot of stuff up (or well, the technical side of things). Please keep that in mind while reading. Oh, and one more thing. I do make some references to the MyungYeol arc of this AU. You don't have to read it if you don't want to (but I recommend it). And I'm going to stop now because this note is getting ridiculously long, like this arc. Ok thx.

 

 

 

 

**play ►**

 

Backdropped by rolling mountains and blanketed by an eternal sheet of snow sits the small village of Hogsmeade. With its small mom and pop shops and warm atmosphere, Hogsmeade is basically picture perfect, like one of those oil paintings on the front of Christmas greeting cards. The languid pace of the village and the same faces and voices filling the shops and sidewalks has Hogsmeade radiating with the feeling of home.

This particular weekend has the small village buzzing with laughter and chatter as the students of Hogwarts fill the streets. Honeydukes is overflowing at its seams as teenagers stock up for future midnight snacks and quick candy fixes. Zonko’s Joke Shop and the Three Broomsticks is especially loud with seventh years nearing the end of their Hogwarts careers, all of their cares being thrown to the wind as they play with Dungbombs and share a few butterbeers.

But on a side road off High Street, located between J. Pippin’s Potions and Dominic Maestro’s, is Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop, the “most romantic cafe in the wizarding world”. Young wizard couples flock to the shop, like honeybees to newly bloomed flowers, where they hold hands over ceramic tea cups and finger sandwiches. Sweet pecks are exchanged across small round tables for two as cherubs sprinkle rose petals over their heads. It’s the place to be if you’re a taken Hogwarts student. And it’s also the place two unlikely fifth years are exiting at this moment.

“Well, that was a bust.” Slytherin Nam Woohyun sighs as he pushes the pink wooden door open and steps out into the street. “They didn’t even show up.”

Gryffindor Lee Howon doesn’t hear him, too busy munching on a cinnamon dusted snickerdoodle. "These are the best. We should have gotten another dozen.”

Woohyun frowns slightly. “I still think the lemon squares were better. They had a certain zest to them, you know? Not sickly sweet like these things,” he says as he grabs a cookie out of the coral takeout bag and tosses it into his mouth.

Howon rolls his eyes and tucks the bag closer to his side. "Okay, now you're just arguing for the sake of arguing because we both know that snickerdoodles are a million times better than lemon squares. Only clumsy pansies who fall off of their brooms during Quidditch matches and drink overly sweetened tea eat lemon squares. Oh. Wait."

“Ooooh, nice one. But I guess that saying ‘You are what you eat’ is pretty accurate here. I’m sweet,” Woohyun makes a V with his hands under his chin. “like my tea, and you’re like the gross muck you call coffee that you drink, bitter.”

The Gryffindor snorts, unamused, and reaches into the bag for another cookie at the exact moment the other boy does the same. Their hands collide between the walls of thin paper, their fingers tangled as they both grasp the last snickerdoodle in the bag.

Howon looks up with set eyes. “Let go.”

“No, you let go,” Woohyun rebuttals back, “I had it first.”

“But these are mine.”

“We bought them together.”

“You just said you don’t even like them.”

“I like them enough to want another one. You already had like ten.”

By this point, the two rival Chasers are standing face to face, chest to chest, hands still buried in the pink, heart clad paper bag.

“I swear I will hex your arm out of its socket if you don’t let go of this cookie,” Howon growls lowly.

The Slytherin smirks and leans his face closer to Howon’s. He’s about to make a snarky comeback when someone clears his throat rather pointedly.

The two boys turn their heads and spring apart when they find five pairs of confused eyes staring at them. The paper bag falls to the cobblestone ground, the last snickerdoodle still inside.

“What are you guys doing?” fifth year Ravenclaw Lee Sungyeol asks. His boyfriend, fourth year Hufflepuff Kim Myungsoo, tips his head in bewilderment from beside him.

The two boys instantly launch into a jumble of incoherent words and motions of denial. “Nothing! What? We weren’t doing anything! No!”

Their friends blink back at them.

Fourth year Gryffindor Lee Sungjong points to the pink painted shop behind them with a raised eyebrow. “Did you two just come out of there?”

More gibberish and denial motions.

“Then what’s with the takeout bag?” Sixth year Hufflepuff Jang Dongwoo eyes the paper bag laying at Woohyun and Howon’s feet.

“People don’t just go into that couple shop for sugar cookies.” Sixth year Slytherin Kim Sunggyu gives them a lazy, knowing smirk.

Howon and Woohyun sputter for a moment, looking at each other, hoping the other will provide some sort of believable explanation. Howon just ends up mumbling, “They’re snickerdoodles.”

“Uh huh.” Sungyeol nods once, looking between the two boys in a way that says he’s having a hard time comprehending the scene in front of him. “Want to explain what you guys were doing in Puddifoot's?”

Woohyun lets out an awkward chuckle and glances at Howon. Howon doesn’t smile back.

“It’s a funny story really,” the Slytherin starts, thinking back to the events of the past couple of weeks.

 

**« rewind**

 

Woohyun strolls into the Ravenclaw common room, an open box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans in his hand. He glances around the navy and silver themed room as he chews on a candy bean. His lips twist into a grimace and it’s not because he got a bean that was one of the more undesirable flavors. He was never a fan of the Ravenclaw common space. It’s too clean, too organized, too quiet. He would probably get scolded if he even dared to walk too loudly, let alone speak. Ravenclaws were always so uptight.

The Slytherin rolls his eyes when he catches a few kids eyeing him from their chairs in the corner of the room.

“Have you seen Sungyeol?” he asks them begrudgingly. He knows they already know who he’s there for.

“He’s in his room,” one girl responds shortly and turns back to the textbook in her lap.

Woohyun nods once and makes his leave without another word, tossing a few more beans into his mouth. He walks up the stairs leading to the boy’s dormitory (the staircase on the left, he reminds himself, don’t want to make that mistake again) and throws open the second door on the right without knocking.

“Did you know they added a mystery flavor?” Woohyun asks upon entering the room, his eyes glued to the back of the jelly bean box, “I can’t decide if it’s supposed to be kimchi or just overly spiced cabbage.”

Sungyeol, kneeling in front of his trunk, glances over his shoulder. “I thought there already was a cabbage flavored one.”

“Oh, you’re right.” The Slytherin frowns and jumps onto Sungyeol’s bed, messing up the nicely made sheets a bit. “Man, then this is the worst kimchi flavored candy in the world. You want some?” He holds out the box.

“Nah, I’m good.” Sungyeol shakes his head and continues to sift around the contents of his trunk before pulling out a small mortar and pestle. “Ah, I found it!”

“You making a potion?” Woohyun asks around a mouth full of beans.

“Yeah, I’m going to study with Myungsoo,” Sungyeol replies as he places the potion making tools in his bag.

A suggestive smirk works its way onto Woohyun’s face. “Oh, studying. I get it.”

“What?”

“You know, _studying_.” The Slytherin wiggles his eyebrows with a shameless smile.

“Oh god, no!” Sungyeol scoffs and shakes his head. “He’s just helping me prepare for the Potions O.W.L.”

“Oh, ‘ _prepare_ ’. Is that what kids these days are calling it?”

“Shut up! It’s not like that.” The Ravenclaw grabs a textbook out of his trunk and chucks it at his snickering best friend. “We haven’t even kissed yet,” he adds under his breath.

There’s a clatter of something dropping to the floor and a deafening silence. Sungyeol looks up to see a box of jelly beans laying on the ground, a few scattered across the wooden floor, and Woohyun staring at him, at a loss for words.

“Uh, you’re going to pick those up right?” Sungyeol points to the mess on his dormitory floor.

“What?!” Woohyun cries in outrage instead. “Are you serious?! You two have been together for like months!”

“Two and half weeks,” Sungyeol corrects.

“That’s basically forever!” Woohyun throws his arms in the air and flops onto his back, messing up Sungyeol’s bed even more.

Sungyeol rolls his eyes as he slings his bag over his shoulder before leaving the room.

Woohyun quickly jumps off the bed and follows after him, leaving his box of jelly beans abandoned and long forgotten.

“Well, what’s taking you so long?” he pries. “Just kiss him already.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Yeah it is. You just take his little pretty face between your hands and lay one on him.”

Sungyeol gives him a side eyed glance as they enter the common room. “Uh, yeah. No. That’s not going to happen.”

“For Dumbledore’s sake, Yeol, grow a pair!” Woohyun exclaims and sends a sneer at a few Ravenclaws who shush him.

“Hey, we’re not supposed to use the late Headmaster’s name in vain, you know that. And keep your voice down,” the Ravenclaw adds quietly. “It’s study time.”

“It’s always study time here,” Woohyun mutters before walking over to the group of studying students and knocking a girl’s book out of her hand. He shakes her by the shoulders while yelling, “Stop studying! Go out! Run around, destroy something, break into a professor’s office, prank Filch, do something! You’re going to crack one day at this rate! Save yourself!”

Sungyeol grabs Woohyun by the back of his collar with a sigh, separating him from the shaken girl, and pulls him out of the Common Room. When they step out of the entrance, they find Myungsoo leaning against the stone wall at the top of the spiral staircase.

Sungyeol immediately releases Woohyun and flits over to his boyfriend.

“Were you waiting long?” Sungyeol asks as Woohyun fixes his clothes with a slight frown behind him.

The Hufflepuff shakes his head. “I just got here. I tried to get in, but I couldn’t figure out the riddle. I think the answer was about a Dementor’s Kiss or something.”

Woohyun’s head instantly perks up. “Kiss, you say?”

“We should go!” Sungyeol turns Myungsoo away from the obnoxious Slytherin and begins to usher him down the stairs. “A lot of material to cover, so little time. See ya later.”

“Hey, wait!” Woohyun calls but the two boys have already turned the corner, out of sight.

He slouches his shoulders and glances around with a pout for a few moments before straightening up and patting his pockets.

“My beans!” he exclaims and turns to go back into the Ravenclaw dormitory only to be met with a wooden door and a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle.

“Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?” the knocker asks him.

“Uhhhh,” Woohyun looks around.

Usually, he just follows other Ravenclaws into the dormitory so he’s never actually had to answer an entry riddle before. But there’s no one in sight and he needs those beans. Myungsoo did say that the answer was something about a Dementor’s Kiss and maybe this riddle is just a trick question and has some underlying meaning that only Ravenclaws would know.

“A kiss?” he tries.

“I’m sorry, that’s incorrect. Please wait until another student provides the correct answer before entering.”

“The phoenix!” he tries again.

“I’m sorry --”

“The flame! It’s the flame!”

“I’m sorry, please --”

“Come on! I need those beans!” Woohyun whines, stomping his feet a little.

“I’m sorry, please wait until another student provides the correct answer before entering,” the knocker replies before molding back into its inanimate form.

The Slytherin thumps his head against the door with a huff.

 

\-- -- -- --

 

Woohyun trudges into the Slytherin common room, head hanging low, shoulders drooping, and hands lacking a box of candy jelly beans. He sighs, mourning the loss of his sweet comrades that lay fallen and abandoned on the cold floor of Sungyeol’s dormitory. He stops in the middle of the room when he notices a figure sitting in his armchair in front of the fire. (Well, it’s not technically his armchair, but he has had eternal dibs on the spot since first year, so it basically is.)

“Ew, what are you doing here?”

Howon looks over his shoulder and sees the Slytherin staring at him with a disgusted expression. He promptly rolls his eyes and stands.

“Sunggyu is letting me borrow a book he used to study for his Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L.” Howon responds, crossing his arms over his chest.

Woohyun scoffs and he flops onto the black leather couch. “‘ _Studying_.'” He makes mocking air quotes around the word.

The space between the Gryffindor’s eyebrows creases and his lips dip into a frown as he stares at the boy laying in front of him. He opens his mouth to comment but Sunggyu walks into the room.

“Here you go.” The sixth year hands Howon a brown, leather bounded notebook. “Sorry it took so long, my roommates made our room into a dragon pen.”

“No problem. I just had to engage in a pointless conversation with Nam,” Howon mumbles as he opens the cover, ignoring the indignant “Hey!” from the younger Slytherin. His eyebrows shoot up his forehead. “‘A ‘Knarl’y Guide to Magical Creatures by Jang Dongwoo’? Clever.”

Sunggyu sighs, partially embarrassed. “He was really proud of the title.”

Howon thumbs through the pages. “And this is going to help me get an O?”

“It should unless Hagrid changed the requirements. Everything’s in there. Unicorn diets, how to identify Knarls of course, even a small comic about a Fire Crab named Nugget.” Sunggyu smiles a little to himself. “It’s actually kinda cute.”

“This is amazing.” The Gryffindor mumbles as he skims over the handdrawn charts, diagrams, and notes. “Care of Magical Creatures is my worst subject. Dongwoo is seriously going to save me. I could kiss him right now.”

Woohyun sits up abruptly and his head snaps towards the two other boys. “Kiss, you say?”

“It’s a figure of speech.” Howon responds, noting the slight glare that Sunggyu is sending out him of the corner of his eye. “I’m not actually going to kiss Dongwoo.”

“Do you know who also is not actually going to kiss anyone? Sungyeol and Myungsoo.” Woohyun answers his own question before either Sunggyu or Howon even get a chance to guess.

“Okay and your point is?” Sunggyu drawls out boredly.

“They’re been together for like, ever! It’s frustrating! Can you believe they haven’t kissed yet?”

“Well, of course they haven’t.” Howon chuckles, shaking his head as he continues to look through the notebook in his hands. “Sungyeol _is_ one of the parties in the relationship, after all.”

Woohyun narrows his eye and stands up from the couch. He makes his way over to the snarky Gryffindor. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Howon snaps the book shut and tucks it under his arm. “It means that Sungyeol is so socially dense that he wouldn’t kiss Myungsoo even if he had a flashing marquee over his head that said ‘Sungyeol please kiss me!!!’ If anyone is going to kiss anyone, it’s going to be Myungsoo.”

“Myungsoo?” Woohyun laughs once without any trace of humor. “No way! He’s such an awkward little turtle that he would never make the first move. Sungyeol’s the one who asked him out, Sungyeol’s going to be the one to kiss him first.”

“Please. He only had the guts to ask Myungsoo out because he drugged out on the Draught of Peace. I still say it’s going to be Myungsoo,” Howon states with an air of confidence.

“Well, I say it’s going to be Sungyeol,” Woohyun challenges back.

“And, _I_ really don’t care,” Sunggyu cuts in with a roll of his eyes before turning to Howon. “Just get that book back to me when you’re done and try not to damage it. Dongwoo just might cry if one of the pages gets lost and I don’t want to deal with that.”

The Gryffindor doesn’t look away from Woohyun and nods once. “Yeah, of course.”

The two continue to glare at each other as Sunggyu retreats back to his room, the elder shaking his head and mumbling something along the lines of “They’re so perfect for each other” under his breath. But the comment goes unheard by the two fifth years.

“Do I sense a bet, Lee?” Woohyun challenges with narrowed eyes.

“I think so, Nam.”

“You say Myungsoo, I say Sungyeol. Let the bolder boyfriend win. But we both know whose friend that’s going to be.”

Woohyun holds out a hand with a cocky smirk. His face twists in pain when Howon grips it a little too tightly.

“Yeah. Mine.” The Gryffindor smiles cheekily and releases Woohyun’s hand before sauntering out of the Slytherin dungeon, holding his head high.

Woohyun watches him leave with a frown as he cradles his hand to his chest. Not only is his hand now missing a box of Burt’s Beans, but it hurts too.

 

**skip ►|**

 

Upon entering the Great Hall for lunch the following day, Woohyun notices something a bit off about the place his friends are sitting at. No, it’s not that they’re sitting in a different location. It’s still at the same table, the second row from the right. It’s still Ravenclaw’s usual table during feasts and is located halfway between the entrance and the professors’ table at the head of the room. And no, they’re not sitting in different positions. Dongwoo and Sunggyu are sitting on the left bench with Sungyeol and Myungsoo across from them. His spot across Sungyeol is vacant. Everything is the same as it was the day before and the day before that.

But it’s only when he walks closer and peers over the top on Myungsoo’s head does he realize why their table suddenly seems so crowded.

“Oh, my _god_!” Woohyun cries dramatically when his eyes land on Howon. “Why are you always showing up in my life when you’re not wanted? I did not use an accio charm on you. Go away!”

Howon scoffs and takes another bit of his ham sandwich. “Please, I wouldn’t even go to you on command if you used a cruciatus curse. And if you’re too thick to realize, which you are, I often eat lunch with my best friend.” He points to the fourth year Hufflepuff sitting next to him (who is trying to sneakily steal a tater tot off of Sungyeol’s plate. He fails. But the smile he gives to the Ravenclaw is so heart meltingly adorable that Sungyeol ends up letting him have it anyway).

Sungjong raises his head, eyes boring into Howon’s across the table in a way that would make even the darkest wizard cringe.

“One of my best friends,” Howon corrects quickly.

The younger Gryffindor nods in approval and goes back to his lunch.

“Sit down, Woohyun, you’re making a scene,” Sunggyu orders.

Woohyun’s bottom lip juts out and he sends a sharp glare at Howon as he drops into the empty seat across from Sungyeol. He pointedly grabs a turkey sandwich because everyone knows that turkey is better than ham and he’s better than Howon so it’s just right this way.

“So the last Quidditch game of the year is coming up,” Myungsoo says casually.

“Yup,” the youngest of the bunch nods. “Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw and we have to win.” Sungjong turns to Sungyeol and gives him a menacing glare. “I will personally beat you guys into the grass if it means getting that trophy.”

“Hey, easy.” Sungyeol holds up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I don’t even play for my house. I could honestly care less who wins.”

Everyone flinches when Woohyun slams his hands down on the table and jumps onto his feet.

“How can you say that? It’s the Inter-House Quidditch Cup! It’s basically just as valuable as the House Cup!”

“I don’t think so.” Sungyeol shakes his head slowly.

“It stands for pride and glory and honor!” The Slytherin plows on. “Generations and generations of Quidditch players, including the best in the world even, have held that cup while they were at Hogwarts. And you don’t care?!”

“Well, I don’t play Quidditch so --”

“You don’t _deserve_ it.” Woohyun sneers and Sungyeol rolls his eyes.

“At least his house is still in the running for the Cup.” Dongwoo pouts with a sigh and lays his head down on the dining table. “Our house doesn’t even have a chance anymore.”

Howon’s lips slowly form into a smirk. “Yeah, you could say that their chances of winning it still haven’t …” He throws a side-eyed glance at Woohyun. “ _fallen_ through their fingertips.”

A scowl molds onto Woohyun's face as Howon and Sungjong bump fists across the table. Myungsoo presses his hand to his mouth and Sungyeol bites down on his lip to hide his smile. Even Sunggyu snorts in amusement.

"Wait, I missed the joke." Dongwoo lifts his head and glances around in confusion. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing." Howon waves a hand. "Just Woohyun's ego taking a bit of a ... _plummet_."

Woohyun's scowl deepens as the table explodes with snickers and "Good one"s. He rips a piece of bread off the top slice of his sandwich and throws it as hard as he can at Howon’s face. But his aim ends up being a bit off (which is ironic because he’s a Chaser) and the small piece of white bread ends up hitting the unsuspecting fourth year sitting at Howon’s side.

“Ow!” Myungsoo yells as he clutches his eye.

Sungyeol shoots Woohyun a displeased look. “What the hell was that for?”

“Sorry, sorry!” The Slytherin holds his hands up in surrender as he sits back down. “I was aiming at the evil gnome sitting next to him!”

Howon scoffs. “You’re shorter than me, you know?”

“Well, you’re uglier!” Woohyun huffs.

“Well, you’re --”

But the Gryffindor’s words die and the bickering comes to halt when the two boys notice Sungyeol leaning his head towards Myungsoo’s. The bet suddenly pops into their minds.

“Are you okay?” the Ravenclaw asks in a quiet voice. “Stop scratching it. Let me see.”

Sungyeol gently removes Myungsoo’s hand and dips his head so he can look into the younger’s reddening eye. From certain angles, it looks like the two are sharing a rather intimate moment.

Sunggyu, Dongwoo, and Sungjong stare at Woohyun and Hoya in confusion as the two rivals watch the couple with an unnerving about of intensity.

“I don’t see anything.” Sungyeol shakes his head.

“It hurts.” Myungsoo’s voice has a tinge of a whine in it, making him sound like a little kid.

“Maybe you should kiss it better, Yeol,” Woohyun offers with an eager smile.

“No!” Howon immediately interjects, “Myungsoo could get a stye or something. Don’t do that.”

“What? What are you guys talking about?” Sungyeol glances between Howon and Woohyun as Myungsoo continues to rub at his assaulted eye. “And why are you looking at us like that?”

“Oh nothing.” The Gryffindor shakes his head and quickly looks down at his plate.

“Yeah just, you know, admiring how cute Hogwarts’ newest ‘it’ couple is.” Woohyun laughs awkwardly. He gently pushes Sungyeol’s shoulder in an attempt to get the Ravenclaw to laugh, or chuckle, or at least stop staring at him in the way that he is.

Sungyeol’s expression doesn’t waver. “Well, stop it. You’re weirding me out more than when Trelawny has one of her episodes,” he says, giving both Woohyun and Howon another look before turning back to Myungsoo again.

“Those scare me,” Dongwoo mumbles meekly. “She once told me I was going to get eaten by a troll.”

Sunggyu gives him a sympathetic smile and pats the sixth year’s head. Sungjong rolls his eyes muttering “Why am I friends with such weirdos?” as he finishes his lunch.

 

**skip ►|**

  
“So … have you done it yet?” Woohyun asks as he places small boxes of fireworks along one wall of an empty corridor. It’s a couple days after what they are dubbing as “The Bread-Cornea Incident”.

Sungyeol doesn’t look at him and continues to peer around the corner into an intersecting hallway, watching for Filch or any other professors. “Done what?”

Woohyun sighs. “Kiss --”

  
>>>

 

“-- Sungyeol!” Howon says with exasperation, like it is the most obvious answer in the entire world.

Myungsoo glances up and knits his eyebrows together.

The two are sitting in the Gryffindor common room, engaged in a friendly game of Wizard’s Chess. But Howon’s interest seems to be elsewhere.

“No,” the younger replies slowly.

“Well, what’s --”

<<<

  
“-- taking so long?” Woohyun whines. He even stomps his foot.

Sungyeol rolls his eyes and glances at his friend over his shoulder. “I told you. We’re --”

  
>>>

  
“-- taking it slow,” Myungsoo mumbles as one of his knights slices Howon’s rook in half.

Howon huffs and leans back into his chair. “Can’t you take it a little faster?”

Myungsoo gives him a perplexed, yet curious look as he clears the broken piece from the board. “Uhhh why does this matter to you?”

The Gryffindor falters for a second. He can’t tell Myungsoo about the bet, can he? He’s pretty sure that would be considered cheating and Howon does not cheat (no matter what Woohyun says). “B-Because --”

  
<<<

  
“-- I’m your best friend.” Woohyun says, curt.

“And that gives you a reason to pry into my relationship?” Sungyeol raises an eyebrow at him.

“Well --”

  
>>>

  
“-- yeah.”

Myungsoo snorts and shakes his head. “Thanks for the concern but I think I’m okay. I don’t even know if he wants to kiss me.”

“Of course he does!” Howon almost all but yells. “You’re --”

<<<

  
“-- his boytoy.” Woohyun makes a big gesture with his arms, as if the truth behind his statement is visible in the air around him. “Why wouldn’t he?”

Sungyeol shrugs as he leans against the stone wall. “He’s kinda shy and awkward and I’m pretty sure I’m his first boyfriend. I don’t know if he’s ready.”

Woohyun scratches the back of his head in frustration and bends back down to place another small box on the ground. “Then you just have to take things into your own hands and --”

  
>>>

  
“-- kiss him first,” Howon suggests, but it comes out as more of an order.

Myungsoo’s face twists into further confusion. “What? How?”

“Just, you know, grab his face and --”

  
<<<

  
“-- lay one on him! A big fat one!”

Sungyeol laughs humorlessly. “I already told you, that’s not going to happen.”

“A small one then?” Woohyun tries but the Ravenclaw simply shakes his head.

“Why does it seem like you want us to kiss more than we want to kiss? Is there something I don’t know? Are you planning something?” He stares at Woohyun suspiciously.

“No, no, no!” Woohyun lies through his teeth (quite convincingly he might add. He is a Slytherin, after all). “I just --”

  
>>>

  
“-- want to … make sure you two are happy in your relationship.” Howon nods, satisfied with his answer.

Myungsoo clears more of Howon’s destroyed chess pieces off the board. “We don’t need to kiss to have a happy relationship.”

“Yeah, but if it’s taking you two this long to just kiss --”

  
<<<

  
“-- imagine how long it’s going to take for you two to --”

“Okay!” Sungyeol cuts Woohyun off quickly as they hide behind a column and wait for their first victim to arrive. “We’re done talking about this.”

“But --”

  
>>>

  
“No.” Myungsoo cuts Howon off with a single shake of his head. “Done. No more. It’ll happen when it happens, okay?”

Howon sighs. He needs to get Myungsoo to kiss Sungyeol first so he can win this bet and rub yet another victory into Nam Poo-hyun’s face. He’s usually really good at convincing people to go along with his way but Myungsoo seems have to his mind set on the topic and he’s not one to force anything onto his friends.

“Fine.” The Gryffindor sighs.

Myungsoo gives him a small grin before commanding his Queen to move two spaces to the left.

“Checkmate.” Myungsoo smiles victoriously as Howon stares at the board in shock.

  
<<<

  
Woohyun’s lips form into a sort of hybrid frown-scowl. It goes unseen by Sungyeol, who’s currently peeking around the side of the pillar they are hiding behind. He would have the best friend that actually cares about his boyfriend’s feelings more than getting some lip action. But he needs Sungyeol to kiss Myungsoo first because he needs to make sure that Lee Howon Lee Ho-lost this bet, even if it’s the last thing he does. If Sungyeol’s not going to do it on his own, it seems that he’s going to have to give his friend some Slytherin convincing (aka, tricking him into kissing Myungsoo through well thought out scheming and colluding).

“Fine. I guess I understand.” Woohyun pouts.

“Good.” Sungyeol nods once with approval. “Oh someone’s coming!”

They both duck behind the pillar, only leaning out a bit to see Filch walking down the land mine ridden hallway towards them.

“How many of the Silver Sparkling Snakes did you set up?” Sungyeol asks in a whisper.

But he gets his answer a split second later in the form of shrieking, crackling, and at least fifteen explosive pops.

“Um, all of them?” Woohyun chuckles before the two of them sprint down the hall.

They cackle like the immature children that they are as Filch chases after them, yelling and shaking a fist in the air.

  
**skip ►|**

When it comes to Saturdays, Woohyun usually spends his afternoons doing one of the following three things: napping, secretly watching Muggle TV drama in his dormitory, or tricking the kitchen house elves into making him an endless ice cream sundae. But this particular Saturday has Woohyun pressed up against the trunk of the Whomping Willow and constantly reminding himself not to make any sudden movements so the ancient tree doesn’t throw him thirty feet in the air as he spies on a certain Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff couple.

He’s been pressed up against the god forsaken tree for almost half an hour and the only things remotely close to kissing that either boy has done are Myungsoo subconsciously pouting as he twirls a dandelion between his fingers and Sungyeol pursing his lips as his eyes skim over the pages of the book in his lap. Woohyun is on the verge of an actual mental breakdown because they’re not even talking and even he and Sunggyu at least hold conversations when they’re together. But banging his head against the Willow’s trunk might result in him getting assaulted by thorny branches and he really doesn’t have the time to take splinters out of his ass (and he’s not really sure how he would on his own anyway).

“What are you doing?” a voice asks from behind him.

Woohyun jumps and whirls around. He leans back against the tree trunk with his hand pressed against his chest and eyes closed, taking deep breaths.

Howon stands a few feet away from him, his usual judgemental expression plastered across his face.

After Woohyun manages to restart his heart, he straightens himself and clears his throat. “Nothing of importance to you.”

“Are you spying on them?” Howon glances at the couple sitting further down the grassy hill towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

“No, I am _observing_. And if you’re going to stay, keep it down, would you? They might hear us.”

Howon moves a little closer and presses a palm against the Willow’s trunk as he stares up at the branches. “How are you hiding behind this thing without it attacking you?”

“Trees like trees?” Woohyun bites back sarcastically before rolling his eyes. “I used an immobulus spell, duh. But I don’t know how long it will last so unless you want splinters where the sun don’t shine, try not to move around too much.”

Howon shifts closer to the base of the tree and crouches next to Woohyun, nudging the Slytherin boy with his shoulder a little harsher than necessary. He struggles to crane his neck around the side of the trunk.

“I can’t see around this dumb tree,” he mutters.

Just as the statement leaves the Gryffindor’s mouth, a single branch from the Whomping Willow swings out, whacking his head.

“Ow!” Howon hisses, rubbing the back of his head as Woohyun laughs at his misfortune.

“Talk shit, get hit.” Woohyun shrugs, “Or, I guess whomped in this case.”

Another small branch whacks Howon again.

“Ow! Stop it!” The Gryffindor glares up at the slightly swaying tree.

“It seems that the Willow obviously doesn’t want you here. So maybe you should make like a tree … and _leave_.” The Slytherin smiles cheekily, shoulder shaking slightly as he silently chuckles at his own joke.

Howon merely rolls his eyes. “Who told you that one, Professor _Sprout_?”

“Ha ha. Clever.”

“Better than your lame leaf pun.”

“Hey! That leaf pun was really well timed, you have to --”

But Woohyun’s words are cut off when Howon suddenly slaps a hand over his mouth.

“Oh my god, shut up! Look!” Howon points in the direction of the couple they are supposed to be spying on.

Woohyun doesn’t even bother to remove Howon’s hand from his mouth as the two fifth years watch Myungsoo and Sungyeol in an anxious silence, straining their ears to hear the couple’s conversation.

“Hey, come here for a second.” Myungsoo motions Sungyeol towards him.

Sungyeol looks up at Myungsoo and gives him a questioning look. He slowly closes his book and leans a little towards the fourth year.

The younger continues to make a come-here motion with his hand. “Closer.”

Sungyeol leans a little closer.

“Closer!” Myungsoo giggles and motions harder.

Sungyeol’s gaze darts to their surroundings and he nervously swallows before bringing their faces a few inches apart.

“Now close your eyes.” Myungsoo orders.

The Ravenclaw’s eyes visibly widen for a second but he complies nonetheless, holding his breath.

Howon leans forward in anticipation, pulling Woohyun with him since he still has his hand wrapped over the Slytherin’s mouth. “This is it! He’s gonna kiss him! I’m gonna win -- Ow!” The Gryffindor quickly draws his hand back and stares at the fresh bite mark on his palm with a mixture of horror and disgust. Woohyun gives him a devious side-eyed smile.

Howon opens his mouth to complain about how unsanitary biting people is and how he’s probably going to get rabies, but the words die in his throat when Myungsoo starts to lean forward towards Sungyeol. The two Chasers hold their breaths. Woohyun prays that Sungyeol mans up and leans the rest of the way before Myungsoo presses their lips together and Howon watches with a giddy smile as he’s centimeters away from beating his Slytherin rival at something once again.

But Howon’s dreams get crushed when at the last second, Myungsoo raises the dandelion in hand, blowing all the fluff off the stem and into Sungyeol’s face with a quick puff of air.

“Are you serious?!” Howon cries, throwing his arms up in the air in disbelief as Sungyeol dusts his face off with a frown and gives Myungsoo a whack on his back. The Hufflepuff falls onto the grass, clutching his stomach as he laughs like an overly excited seal.

“Hah! It’s not over yet!” Woohyun jumps up and does a little dance, shaking his butt in Howon’s face. “I just have to get Sungyeol to kiss him.”

“Not if I get Myungsoo to do it first.” Howon gives Woohyun a hard shove, throwing the latter off balance.

But thanks to his self-proclaimed ninja reflexes, Woohyun is able to brace his palms against the Willow’s trunk before his precious nose could collide with the wood. He sighs in relief and sends the Gryffindor a glowering look over his shoulder. When he moves to shove Howon back, it appears that his immobulus charm has worn off and he’s suddenly thrown into the air by one of the Willow’s branches, screaming. He lands at the the bottom of the grassy hill with a thud and rolls a few times before finally coming to a stop with a groan.

“Woohyun?” Sungyeol asks as he and Myungsoo stare in shock at the Slytherin boy who suddenly landed at their feet.

Not even a beat later, another manly (but not really manly) shriek is heard and Howon lands next Woohyun with a similar painful moan.

“Howon?” Myungsoo’s eyes widen with worry.

Sungyeol continues to stare at his fellow fifth years as they struggle to sit up. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Uh, well, you know,” Woohyun laughs breathily. “Just a dare to see who could get thrown into the air by the Whomping Willow first. And I won!” He tries to smile and play everything off as no big deal but ends up clutching his side in pain with a frown.

Sungyeol and Myungsoo just stare at them.

“So …” Woohyun somehow manages to mask the intense pain shooting from his lower back as he stands and brushes off his uniform slacks. “I’m pretty sure we should both pay a visit to the Hospital Wing. Don’t you agree, Lee?” Woohyun turns to the boy still laying flat on his back next to him.

“Uh, yeah,” Howon’s rasps out.

Woohyun abruptly pulls the Gryffindor up to his feet, ignoring Howon’s whines of protest as drags him away from the confused couple.

“Okay, see ya guys, bye!” Woohyun yells over his shoulder as they hobble away, leaving a very confused couple in their wake.

  
**pause | |**

 

**fast forward »**

 

“Your puns are stupid,” Sunggyu states as the seven of them sit in the Three Broomsticks with a round of butterbeers.

Howon gives the elder an uncharacteristically cute pout. “No, they’re not.”

Sungjong rolls his eyes and picks at his fingernails boredly. “You guys really are idiots.”

“Wait, you guys were _spying_ on us?” Matching frowns emerge on Sungyeol and Myungsoo’s faces.

“ _Observing_ ,” Woohyun corrects, exasperated.

Dongwoo lowers his drink from his lips and smiles into the nearly empty mug, “Mmmmm, I love butterbeer.”

“But wait, there’s more,” Howon smirks.

Dongwoo straightens and looks around, eyes wide like an owl’s. “More butterbeer?”

Woohyun rolls his eyes. “No, Jigglypuff, more to the story.”

 

  
**« rewind**

  
**play ►**

  
The concept of “library love” is something that Woohyun never fully understood. Sure, there are good make out spots in the certain sections (he recommends the Restricted Section because it’s dangerous and forbidden and people are supposedly into that), you can play footsie under the study desks, and you’re forced to whisper into each other’s ears. But what’s so romantic about century old books that smell like mildew and having Old Hag Pince constantly shushing you when you weren’t even talking that loud in the first place? Woohyun will never know.

But since Myungsoo and Sungyeol are apparently fans of the silent death trap, that’s why he’s currently crouched behind the Invisibility section during his free period. He peers through the gaps in the shelves as he watches the couple study together.

“Why are they always studying together when they could be making out?” Woohyun mutters to himself, shaking his head. “Looks like I’m going to have to change that.”

The Slytherin pulls out his wand from his pocket and with a single wave, a small, pink bubble heart is conjured in the air. It disconnects from the end of his wand with a pop and hovers in front of him. With another tap, the words “Kiss Me” appear in cursive letters on the front. Satisfied with his work, Woohyun waves his wand again and sends the heart on its merry way towards the couple.

It floats through the bookshelf (not colliding with an invisible book, luckily) and stops right behind Myungsoo, in a perfect line with Sungyeol’s vision. Woohyun mentally high fives himself with a pleased smile.

A few seconds after the heart is put in place, Sungyeol glances up from his textbook. He blinks at the bubble heart before snorting once with a shake of his head and turning back to his homework.  
Woohyun’s once satisfied smile dips into a frown. He sets his jaw and sends over three more hearts with “Kiss Me”, “Please?”, and “Just once?” and makes them bounce a little in the air to get Sungyeol’s attention again.

Luckily, it works and Sungyeol lifts his head from his reading again. His eyes widen a little and he clears his throat awkwardly. “Stop that,” he mumbles, staring back down at his textbook intently.

“Stop what?” Myungsoo asks as he dips his quill in his inkwell, completely oblivious to what is going on behind him.

Woohyun continues to send over more and more hearts with determination, making a growing wall of fuschia behind Myungsoo. He’s probably overdoing it, but hey, when Nam Woohyun commits to something, he commits.

Sungyeol frantically looks around as the hearts start to curve into a dome over Myungsoo’s head. “Seriously, Myungsoo, stop. People are starting to stare.”

It’s at that moment that the Hufflepuff finally looks away from his parchment to give his boyfriend a confused look. “What are you talking about?”

Sungyeol glances behind him at the wall of hearts and then throws another quick peek at the students who are sitting around them. He lets out a frustrated sigh. “If I just do it, will you stop it?”

“But I’m not doing anything!” Myungsoo insists.

“Oh just come here!”

Woohyun holds his breath, tightening his grip on his wand, when Sungyeol grabs Myungsoo wrist and pulls the younger boy towards him and all he can think is _do it do it do it do it do it do it_.

But because Woohyun has chronic tunnel vision and is horribly unaware of his surroundings when he’s concentrating, he fails to notice the presence of a fun sized Hufflepuff hunched over next to him.

“What are we looking at?” Dongwoo whispers suddenly in his ear.

Woohyun jolts in shock, falling over onto the ground and flailing his arm out that’s holding his wand steady. The sounds of a giant explosion and a few screams has Woohyun and Dongwoo both clambering to their feet and peering through the bookshelf.

A thick layer of rose petals buries everything within a six foot radius of Myungsoo and Sungyeol, the two sitting still as statues as petals cover their table and stick in their hair, completely dazed.

“What is going on here?” Madam Pince appears from behind a bookshelf and gapes at the situation before her.

Myungsoo and Sungyeol quickly stutter to explain the situation but fail to do so coherently due to their confusion. They duck their heads as the librarian orders them to two hours of detention and begins to launch into a lengthy lecture about the purpose of libraries and correct conduct that students should be displaying while using them.

“Are those rose petals? Are they making a potion?” Dongwoo asks innocently and Woohyun simply takes the boy by his shoulders and quickly steers him away from the scene.

  
**skip ►|**

  
‘Confidence is key.’ That is the motto that Lee Howon lives his life by. Whether it’s the way he commands his broom and the Quaffle on the Quidditch pitch or how he carries himself as he walks through the halls, Howon ensures that there is an air of confidence in everything he does. He’s found that if he believes that what is he doing is right (even if he’s not quite sure of himself deep down), then others will too. Therefore, in addition to sports and school, Howon is confident in his plan to get Myungsoo to kiss Sungyeol and he is just as confident that he’s going to win this bet.

Howon _confidently_ walks into Professor Flitwick’s classroom during the passing time between third and fourth period. He _confidently_ places a small envelope containing a handwritten letter on the chair he is _confident_ belongs to Myungsoo, the message: “Today is National Kiss Day in the Muggle World apparently. Shouldn’t we participate? ;) - Sungyeol.” And he strolls _confidently_ \--

  
**pause | |**

 

“Seriously?” Sungjong deadpans. “You just used the word ‘confident’ like ten times.”

“Don’t interrupt me,” Howon snaps back and, after a simply narrowing of the youngers’ eyes, quickly adds a meek “Please?”. The older Gryffindor clears his throat and glances around the pub and anywhere other than the pair of malicious eyes boring holes into his skull. “Um, now where was I … Oh, right.”

  
**play ►**

  
And he strolls _confidently_ out of the classroom, head held high. Confident.

  
\-- -- -- --

  
Howon takes his time leaving fourth period. He knows Flitwick always loses track of time during his lessons and ends up letting his classes out ten minutes late. After climbing the stairs to the third floor Charms Corridor, he spots Sungyeol leaning against the wall opposite of the Charms classroom and quickly hides behind a pillar.

Howon pokes his head around the stone column and watches the Ravenclaw scuff his foot boredly against the ground. Flitwick's rushed voice can be heard followed by a chorus of rustling and murmurs and wooden chair scraping against the cement floor.

_Perfect timing_ , he smirks confidently.

Students pour out of the classroom, eager to get to the Great Hall for lunch. Howon glosses over them, his eyes searching for his fourth year friend. But his attention is pulled away from the classroom’s doorway when a small Hufflepuff girl marches straight up to Sungyeol and a loud smack echoes through the hallway.

Howon’s expression is equally as shocked as Sungyeol’s as the Ravenclaw stares down at the girl with wide eyes, a hand against his reddening cheek.

“How dare you, Lee Sungyeol, how _dare_ you?” she hisses and if looks could kill, Sungyeol would already be six feet under.

“Wha…?” Sungyeol looks around in confusion.

The girl plows on. “You know, I thought you were a great guy and I was so happy that Myungsoo found someone like you because you two look so good together and I can tell Myungsoo really likes you. I mean, I’ve heard you’re a little awkward and socially inept sometimes but this is just _sickening_.”

“What are you talking about?! I don’t even know you!” Sungyeol all but shrieks.

“That makes it even worse!” the girl screams.

Howon’s eyes widen with even more shock when her hand collides with Sungyeol’s other cheek at the same moment Myungsoo walks out from the classroom.

“Whoa, what’s going on?” Myungsoo rushes over and places himself between Sungyeol and the girl. He stares at his housemate with alarm.

The girl places a hand on Myungsoo’s shoulders and looks him straight in the eye. “I’m saying this as your housemate and friend. You honestly deserve better.”

She throws one more deathly glare at Sungyeol before turning away from the couple and walking down the hall.

“Who was that?” Sungyeol asks, voice filled with horror.

“Jinyoung? She sits next to me in class. She’s usually really quiet and nice.” Myungsoo’s lips twist a little, perplexed. “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing!” the Ravenclaw cries.

Myungsoo simply shrugs and asks him if he’s okay, gently patting his boyfriend’s swelling cheeks with an amused grin.

As Jinyoung passes the pillar Howon’s hiding behind, he catches a glimpse of a torn envelope crumpled in her hand. He smacks his forehead and drags his palm down the remainder of his face ( _confidently_ ).

  
**skip ►|**

  
Woohyun thinks that some things are best done the traditional way. Take driving on the right side of the road, for example, or the way to eat a cupcake (you’re supposed to twist the bottom half off and sandwich the frosting. It’s much more gentlemanly that way and Woohyun considers himself to be nothing less than classy). And when it comes to kissing, what's more traditional than a kiss forced upon two people by a plant hanging over a doorway? Nothing.

So even though the weeks are pushing into May and he’s four months shy of the holiday season, Woohyun is currently balancing himself on top of a somewhat sketchy looking wooden chair, a sprig of mistletoe that Dongwoo found somewhere around campus in hand. He pushes himself onto his toes and carefully tacts it above the doorway to an empty classroom in the Charms corridor.

It’s only after he climbs down from the chair (almost falling off a couple of times) and admires his work with a satisfied smile that he wonders why he didn’t just conjure one with his wand. Or use a levitation spell. Or get Dongwoo to do it for him. He shrugs off the thought and straightens out his sweater and tie as his two targets -- uh, he means, _friends_ appear in the doorway.

“Okay we’re here,” Sungyeol says boredly as he and Myungsoo enter the classroom. “Why do you need us again?”

“Because I told you that I needed help preparing for the Charms O.W.L practicum,” Woohyun fibs with ease. “And as my best friend, it’s your duty to help me and do everything in your power to ensure that I do well on my examinations.”

Sungyeol gives him a skeptical look. “Really?”

“Yes! Why do you sound so shocked? I care about my grades too, you know!”

“Coulda fooled me.”

“But why am I here?” Myungsoo speaks up.

“Oh, little Jigglypuff,” The Slytherin lets out a breathy chuckle, as if he finds the younger boy’s question both amusing and endearing. “Haven’t you heard of the phrase ‘three is better than two’?”

“It’s ‘two is better than one’,” Sungyeol deadpans.

“And four’s a crowd or company or whatever.” Woohyun waves a hand. “But I have to set up a few things before we start. So stand over near the door while I get ready.”

He turns around and glances around the empty classroom, pressing his lips in a firm line as he notes the lack of tangible objects in the room. There’s not much he can work with so he ends up just shifting the positions of a few chairs and stacking random books he finds on the professor’s desk. He snickers to himself when he glances over at Myungsoo and Sungyeol only to find them standing the doorway like he told them to, already fallen into a quiet conversation under his festive kissing trap.

“Oh, would you look at that!” Woohyun points at the plant hanging above the couple with faux astonishment. “A mistletoe! Well, you two know what that means!”

“Huh? It’s not even Christmas,” Myungsoo mumbles as he takes a few steps away from Sungyeol to glances up as well.

“Nope, nope!” The Slytherin shakes his head and shoves the Hufflepuff back towards Sungyeol. “You know rules of when two people are caught under a mistletoe. Go on! I won’t look.” He places a hand over his eyes for added dramatic effect.

It’s silent for a few moments and Woohyun tries to calm himself down and not get too excited even though he knows _this is it_.

He’s going to win this bet and he’s going to rub it into Lee Ho-loser’s face for the rest of the term. And probably the rest of their Hogwarts careers. And maybe even after that, too, when they’re both old and wrinkly and can barely walk. And he will finally be able to take all those falling jokes and shove it right back up that devil spawn’s --

“But … that’s not even a mistletoe,” Sungyeol says, cutting off Woohyun’s inner monologue.

Woohyun spreads his fingers a little to blink at his best friend. “What?”

“It’s a fig branch,” the Ravenclaw clarifies with a nod.  
Woohyun’s hand drops like lead back to his side and his expression flattens. “What?”

“Yeah, there's even a few figs on it.” Sungyeol continues to study the plant. “Mistletoe doesn’t bare fruit. Fun fact: the mistletoe attaches itself to and penetrates the branches of a tree or shrub. It then absorbs water and nutrients from the host plant, making it a parasitic plant.” He smiles smugly.

“Ugh!” Woohyun ruffles the back of his hair in frustration. He never should have trusted that peewee badger lover. The kid is good at Care of Magical Creatures, not Botany, so he really shouldn’t blame the sixth year for his failed plan. (But he’s going to anyway.)

“Oh, wow, that’s actually kind of interesting,” Myungsoo muses. “Do you know anything about figs?”

Sungyeol’s eyes light up. “Actually --”

“Ughhhhhhh!” Woohyun yells again and stomps out of the room, pushing his way past the couple, silently pledging with Dongwoo's life that he _will_ get those two to kiss.

  
**skip ►|**

 

This isn't cheating. This isn't cheating because Howon doesn't cheat. He may play a bit dirty at times but he doesn't cheat.

Cheating would be physically tying down Sungyeol and pushing Myungsoo's face to the Ravenclaw's or blatantly telling Myungsoo about the bet and asking him to kiss Sungyeol. And Howon knows the fourth year would do it because he’d do anything to help a friend.

But leaving a box of chocolates spiked with a love potion on Myungsoo's bed is not cheating. It’s … alchemy-based convincing. Yeah. That’s it.

  
**pause | |**

  
“Those were from _you_?” Myungsoo asks, appalled.

“Why am I the one who’s always getting interrupted?!” Howon holds out his arms in frustration as Woohyun snickers at his side. “Yes, those were from me. But please let me finish my story before you judge me. Okay? Okay.”

  
**play ►**

  
Howon double checks the bed to ensure that it belongs to Myungsoo (he is most definitely not making that mistake again) and places the card with Sungyeol’s signature next to the silver and gold wrapped box. He fluffs up the bow a bit and draws back with a satisfied smirk because damn, he is good. The Gryffindor thinks that even Sungjong would fall for this trap and that’s saying something.

He slinks out of Myungsoo’s room and quietly exits the Hufflepuff dormitory, faintly worrying about the chocolates ending up in someone else’s stomach but still, as always, confident.

  
\-- -- -- --

  
It’s going to be a good day; Howon can feel it. One of his morning classes got cancelled, an essay deadline got extended, and the Great Hall is serving chicken tenders for lunch.

As he munches on his dinosaur shaped morsels of chickeny goodness (or “Mini-Me nuggets!” as Dongwoo has dubbed them), Howon happily chats with Sungjong about their upcoming Quidditch match and different formations they need to run later during practice. He doesn’t even let Woohyun’s attempt to stick grains of rice in his hair from further down the table dampen his mood.

He’s heard from one of his “sources” that Myungsoo had found the box of chocolates on his bed the previous night and had eaten a few before going to sleep. And if everything went according to plan, Myungsoo and Sungyeol would be walking into the Great Hall any minute now, Myungsoo smothering the Ravenclaw with an infinite amount of kisses, and he will claim his rightful victory over Nam Woohyun once again.

So yup, it’s a good day.

But Howon’s good day turns into a not so good day very rapidly when he spots an angry looking Myungsoo stomping into the Great Hall with a frantic Sungyeol right on his heels. The two come to a stop when Sungyeol manages to catch the back of Myungsoo’s sweater and turn the Hufflepuff around to face him.

“Hey, Myung, I asked you a question!”

“And _I_ asked _you_ to leave me alone!”

Upon hearing the bite and frustration in the younger’s voice, the five boys seated at the table gawk at Myungsoo, taken aback.

“Myungsoo --”

Sungyeol reaches out for Myungsoo's arm only to get his hand thrown back to his side.

“Stop following me!” Myungsoo continues to briskly walk further into the hall, ignoring the Ravenclaw chasing after him.

“But --” The fifth year grabs onto Myungsoo's shoulder.

Myungsoo whirls around and harshly shoves Sungyeol away with a single push to the elder's chest. Their friends watch in shock as the expression on Sungyeol’s face morphs from one of disbelief to plain hurt.

Howon eyes the fourth year, confused and stunned. Myungsoo, a fan of person to person contact and human touch, was always one to want to draw people closer him, not push them away. He would never physically hurt or push anyone, no matter how angry or upset he was. Something is wrong. And Howon’s sure he’s not the only one thinking the same as nearby students begin to direct their gazes at the couple standing the middle of the Great Hall.

“Don’t you get it, Sungyeol?" Myungsoo is almost pleading at this point. "I don’t like you! I think I might even hate you!”

If anguish was to have a physical form, it would be the look on Sungyeol’s face. “W-What?” he croaks.

“You’re awkward and paranoid and your legs are disproportionate to your body! And you never once initiated anything when we were together! You took two weeks to hold my hand and you only did it because you were scared and we were walking back to the castle in the dark!” The Hufflepuff takes a deep breath and stares pointedly out of the giant windows, eyebrows furrowed and mouth set in a straight line.

“Really? You r-really feel that way?” Sungyeol stutters out, his voice strained.

“Yes I do.” Myungsoo looks directly into Sungyeol’s eyes, expression icy. “Read my lips, Sungyeol. I. Don’t. Like. You. Leave. Me. Alone.”

The fourth year brushes past the Ravenclaw and walks out of the Great Hall without another word. Murmurs and whispers begin to circle around them as Sungyeol stands rooted in his spot, unfocused eyes staring straight forward but not truly seeing anything.

Dongwoo jumps to his feet when Sungyeol’s body sways a bit disorientedly. Steadying the taller boy, he whispers soft words of “He’s probably just having a bad day. He doesn't mean it, Yeol,” into Sungyeol’s ear and guides him to sit down.

Sungyeol doesn’t respond, keeping his head bowed and blinking rapidly as if to conceal his rather obvious tears from flowing down his cheeks.

Woohyun looks at his broken best friend with worry before standing up from his seat and moving to sit across from Howon. “Did you do that?” he asks in a voice that most accusing than anything.

“No, I didn’t do anything!” The Gryffindor shakes his head earnestly. “Why would I do that? We’re supposed to get them to kiss, not break up.”

“Well, you must have done something!”

Howon sighs and stares down at his plate of half finished chicken tenders. “I gave Myungsoo some chocolates, okay? But they had a love potion, not … whatever caused that.”

“You gave him a love potion?!” Woohyun’s eyes go so wide, Howon swears (wishes) they’re going to fall out of his head. “That’s cheating!”

“No, it’s not! I don’t cheat! And it doesn’t matter anyway since it obviously didn’t work. I followed the directions exactly. Powered moonstone, Ashwinder eggs, peppermint, rose petals --”

“Thorns,” Sungjong interjects suddenly.

“Huh?” Howon turns to the younger Gryffindor sitting next to Woohyun.

“You meant to say thorns, right?” Sungjong glances between the two fifth year Chasers. “Love potions are made with rose _thorns_. Hate potions are made with rose petals, you homewrecker.”

Woohyun stares at Howon as Howon stares at Sungjong, the rivals both donning identical idiotic expressions of confusion. Realization hits Howon first and he jumps to his feet, muttering “Shit shit shit shit shit” under his breath as he sprints out of the Great Hall.

Woohyun blinks as he watches Howon’s retreating figure disappear. “So he actually meant to say thorns?” he asks, still alarmingly confused.

Sungjong just stares at the Slytherin with such disbelief he actually feels a bit angry. He shakes his head slowly and turns back to his lunch.

 

**skip ►|**

 

Woohyun brings it up again as they walk up the staircase to the seventh floor corridor.

“And did you see Myungsoo’s face when he saw Sungyeol?” The Slytherin asks dramatically, as if Howon wasn’t there when they dragged the miffed Hufflepuff to Slughorn’s office, as if he wasn’t paying attention when Myungsoo took the counter potion, as if he didn’t feel guilty enough already.

Woohyun shakes his head in mocking disappointment. “He looked _this_ close to tears. You’re so lucky Sungyeol is a forgiving person. How could you do that to your best friend?”

Howon grits his teeth. “Shut up. I didn’t mean to give him a hate potion.”

They turn down the left corridor at the seventh floor landing.

“Why are we teaming up again?” Howon asks begrudgingly. “I thought we’re supposed to be competing against each other.”

Woohyun rolls his eyes. “How many times do I have to explain this to you? We’re teaming up because our individual efforts obviously weren’t good enough. I accidently got them detention and you almost ruined their relationship, you homewrecker.”

“Stop calling me that,” The Gryffindor mutters, fists clenched at his sides.

Woohyun ignores him and continues to look straight ahead. “Besides haven’t you heard of that saying … what is it now? Two is … two is …” He trails off.

“Two is better than one?” Howon supplies.

“No, no that’s not it.” Woohyun shakes his head. “It’s something like … two peas in a pod make for better soup -- I don’t know, something like that. But basically, we’ll both contribute and then whoever's friend is truly the best will do the rest.”

Howon side eyes him before shaking his head with a resigned sigh. “Okay. And why are we doing all of this again?”

“For our friends’ happiness, of course,” Woohyun answers simply even though they both know Sungyeol and Myungsoo’s happiness is one of the last things on their minds.

“Right. Their happiness.”

They come to a stop at the end of the corridor.

“What the hell is this?” Howon stares up at the tapestry hanging on the stone wall. It’s depicting a man in a ridiculous feathered hat and a bunch of trolls dressed in equally ridiculous tutus and ballet slippers. “Where is it? Are you playing a joke on me again? Because this one is not funny at all.”

Woohyun scoffs. “Don’t you know anything about the Room of Requirement? You have to walk past it three times for the door to appear. We need to pull out all the stops if this is going to work. So just think of the most romantic setting you can think of. Can you do that much or do you actually lack so much relationship experience that I’m going to have to do everything myself?”

Howon narrows his eyes before shoving Woohyun to the side. He briskly walks back and forth past the tapestry, training his thoughts on the most romantic (yet, tasteful) setting he can think of. As he passes the hanging cloth for the third time, a wooden door molds out of the opposite stone wall.

Woohyun brushes past the Gryffindor and turns the knob. They enter the room.

It’s dim inside, only being lit by dozens of wax candles. In the center of the room sits a giant bed with dozens of plush looking pillows, rose petals scattered over the comforter. A plate of tuxedo strawberries sits on a bedside table next to two champagne glasses and a bottle in a bucket of ice. A soft tune of a piano hums from an unseen source.

“Not bad, Lee, not bad.” Woohyun nods slowly as he glances around.

Howon crosses his arms over his chest and smiles smugly.

The Slytherin walks further into the room and snags a strawberry off the platter. “A bit cliche though, but I guess it will do.” He tosses the piece of fruit into his mouth with a shrug.

Howon’s arms drop back to his side and his smile turns into an annoyed frown. He stares up at the ceiling, huffing in exasperation, and turns to leave the room.

“Let’s just get them in here and end this stupid bet already. I’m sick of having to talk to you and see your stupid face all the time.”

Woohyun’s jaw drops in offense. “Hey --”

Howon slams the door in his face.

  
\-- -- -- --

  
“Where are you taking us?” Sungyeol asks as Woohyun and Howon push the couple down the seventh floor’s left corridor.

“I’m so hungry,” Myungsoo stops in the middle of the hallway to clutch his growling stomach.

“Shut up, creampuff. Keep walking!” Woohyun orders.  
Sungyeol throws the Slytherin a look over his shoulder. “Hey, don’t talk to him like that.”

“Yeah, don’t talk to him like that.” Howon adds defensively as he pulls a pouting Myungsoo by the arm.

Myungsoo lets out a whine full of longing. “Creampuffs.”

Woohyun shakes his head and mumbles up to Sungyeol, “Your boyfriend is such a child.”

“He gets like that when he’s hungry.” The Ravenclaw shrugs. “I think it’s cute.”

The Slytherin fakes a gagging noise as they walk up to the tapestry at the end of the corridor.

“You brought us to the Room of Requirement?” Sungyeol questions.

“How did you know?” Howon stares up at him, honestly impressed.

“Everyone knows the Room of Requirement is located across from the Troll Tapestry.” The Ravenclaw rolls his eyes and tucks his hands in his pockets. “Fun fact,” A haughty smirk appears on his face and Woohyun groans. “People regarded Barnabas as a complete loon for trying to teach trolls ballet and gave him the name ‘Barnabas the Barmy’, barmy being an informal adjective for mad, crazy, or extremely foolish according to the Oxford Dictionary of English. Interesting, right?” Sungyeol turns to Myungsoo with an expectant smile.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s fascinating.” The Hufflepuff grabs Sungyeol by the wrist and drags him back and forth in front of the tapestry. “Let’s just do the thing so we can go back to lunch. We’re missing udon day.”

As they past for the third time, Woohyun rushes to the door right when it appears on the opposite wall and throws it open. Howon pushes the couple inside with an “Enjoy! Don’t come out until you’re done!” and Woohyun slams the door in their faces.

The two Chasers throw their bodies against the door, holding it in place as the couple inside tries to escape.

“Hey! Let us out!” Sungyeol yells, pounding on the door.

“Why did you lock us in here?” Myungsoo whines.

“This isn’t funny!”

“I’m still hungry!”

Howon sighs as the two younger boys continue to complain and try to shove the door open.

“We’re not letting you out until you’re done,” the Gryffindor calls back through the the door. “So use the Room quickly if you want us to open the door and let you go back to lunch.”

Another round of grumbling and door pounding.

“Just do it already!” Woohyun screams at the door.

Then, everything goes oddly silent.

Woohyun and Howon give each other questioning glances before pressing their ears to the door. They narrow their eyes, lips pressed into firm lines, as they strain their ears for any sort of progress behind the thick oak panels. They hear a bit of shuffling, a few footsteps, Sungyeol saying something to Myungsoo and Myungsoo replying, their voices too soft to carry to Woohyun and Howon’s ears coherently.

When suddenly, a loud moan travels through the door.

The two fifth years spring back from the door in shock. They turn towards each other, jaws hanging, before looking back at the door leading into the Room. They both scramble back to their earlier positions and press their ears flat against the door when they hear Sungyeol begin to speak again.

“Myungsoo, stop.” Embarrassment is evident in the Ravenclaw’s voice. “They can probably hear you.”

“What? Why? They said to enjoy and I’m doing just that. Now, stop talking and come here.”

“Wait, hold on.”

It gets quiet again for a few seconds before there is a soft knocking on the door.

Woohyun glances at Howon before answering. “Uhhh, yes?”

“Do you guys wanna come in and join us?” Sungyeol asks.

Woohyun draws back from the door with a disgusted expression etched onto his face. “What? No!”

“Why? There’s plenty to go around. I don’t mind sharing.”

“I kind of mind,” Myungsoo calls, the slight echo of his voice indicating that he is further away from the door.

“Uhhhh, no thanks.” Howon says, a bit discomforted. “But we appreciate the offer, I guess.”

“Okay suit yourself,” Sungyeol singsongs. “More steak and lobster for us.”

Wait ... what?

Woohyun and Howon pull the door open and run into the Room of Requirement, pushing Sungyeol to the side in the process. In the center of the Room, there is nothing but a long buffet table with dozens of different dishes and desserts and a fourth year Hufflepuff standing at one end, stuffing his face with whatever he can get his hands on.

“What is all of this?” Howon asks, staring at the fully roasted pig with an apple in its mouth at the center of the buffet.

“Isn’t it great?!” Myungsoo beams, mouth full. “There’s even udon too!” He points to a giant pot at one end of the table, eyes shining like a first year’s seeing Hogwarts for the first time.

“But, but, but,” Woohyun sputters as he looks around the room. “But what happened to the bed and the rose petals and the chocolate strawberries and the baby making music?”

“It was all here when the two of us were in here earlier,” Howon adds with a troubled frown.

The clatter of a fork hitting the ground echos throughout the room as Sungyeol and Myungsoo stare at the two fifth years with wide eyes. They glance at each other before looking back at Howon and Woohyun again.

“Oh.”

The couple immediately begins to make their way to the door without another word. (Myungsoo quickly piles a few more pieces of meat on his plate before scurrying after Sungyeol.)

“Where are you going?” Woohyun asks and halts Sungyeol by grabbing his arm.

“Well, I mean, this is the Room of Requirement.” The taller boy gently removes Woohyun’s grip with an awkward laugh. He slowly walks backwards towards his boyfriend who is already waiting by the door. “And if all of that showed up when it was just the two of you here then … I think you need the room more than us.”

Myungsoo nods in agreement and Howon and Woohyun watch the couple run through the doorway before they can explain that no, they most definitely do not need the Room for that reason. When the door shuts close, the two stand in a stiff silence as they glance around the room, the Slytherin with a small pout and the Gryffindor with his cheeks puffed.

“Well,” Woohyun huffs through his nose and turns to the boy next to him. “I guess there’s only one thing to do.”

Howon looks at him, mortified. “W-What?”

“We eat the rest of the food and think of another plan, of course.” Woohyun points over his shoulder at the buffet table before narrowing his eyes with a smirk. “What were you thinking about?”

Howon scoffs a “Nothing,” and shoves a cackling Woohyun to the side. He walks up to the table and grabs a chicken wing, taking a harsh bite out of it and wondering what he did in a past life to deserve this.

 

**skip ►|**

 

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Howon asks, eyeing the couple walking a few steps in front of them. “Because it seems kinda -- no, really stupid to me.”

“Of course it’s going to work.” Woohyun replies with ease. “Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop is the number one couple spot in Hogsmeade. Almost everyone who goes in there ends up kissing at some point. Ten minutes and they’ll be eating each other’s faces for sure. Now, like we practiced.”

They pick up their pace a bit so they are practically breathing down Myungsoo and Sungyeol’s necks, a little too close for Howon’s comfort but Woohyun seems fine with the invasion of their friends’ personal space. The couple is chatting about something that neither Woohyun nor Howon care about so it’s the perfect time to begin Phase One of “Operation: Kiss Kiss Fall In Love” (Woohyun obviously came up with the name).

“Hey, Howon,” Woohyun starts in an overly loud, overly enunciated voice that causes the Gryffindor to almost physically face palm himself. “Have you heard about Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop?”

Sungyeol glances over his shoulder. He gives his best friend a strange look, to which Woohyun responds with a toothy smile.

When he turns back around and resumes his conversation with Myungsoo, Woohyun nudges Howon’s side. The latter sighs. “Why no, Woohyun, I haven’t. What is it?”

“Well, it’s just the hottest couple spot in Hogsmeade located off of High Street,” The Slytherin responds enthusiastically.

“Do they only serve tea?” Howon asks flatly. “It is a tea shop, after all.”

“No! They also serve sandwiches and pastries and ...” A sly smirk works its way onto Woohyun’s lips, “coffee.”

Sungyeol’s ears almost visibly perk. “Coffee?”

“Yup.” Woohyun answers, emphasizing the ‘p’ with a popping sound.

“Hear it’s some of the best in the area,” Howon adds. “A must try for coffee enthusiasts, apparently.”

Sungyeol turns to Myungsoo excitedly. “We should go check it out after Potage's and Tomes and Scrolls.”

The fourth year grins up at him and nods. “Okay.”

A haughty smile stretches across Woohyun’s face as Howon stares at the couple’s back with his jaw hanging. Was it seriously that easy?  
“Phase One, done.” Woohyun holds out a fist to Howon. “Whose plan is stupid now, huh?”

The Gryffindor rolls his eyes and unwillingly bumps his fist against the Slytherin’s. He briskly walks down the snow covered path in an attempt to catch up with their friends (but mostly to get away from the dumb tree standing in the middle of the walkway).

  
\-- -- -- --

  
Howon grimaces slightly as he and Woohyun stare up at the small shop in front of them.

Couples flow in and out in a constant stream, all giggly, all smiley, all looking very much in love. Howon wonders how a small hole in the wall can turn normal teenagers into lovestruck, starry-eyed morons. He sees almost half of these couples around the castle on a daily basis and never once has he seen them like … well, this. Love is weird.

“So this is it?” Howon asks, the pink door, windows, and sign written in a curly cursive font already giving him his answer.

“Definitely,” Woohyun responds with a single nod.

“Do we really have to go inside?” Through the front window, Howon notes the way a few couples are shamelessly sucking face with a frown.

“It would be much less creepy to spy on them from inside. Other couples might think we’re pervs, peeping through the window all shady like and stuff.”

They go back to staring at the building in silence. After a few moments, Howon lets out a resolute huff and marches up to the door.

The little cafe is much smaller than expected, a bit cramped even. There is barely enough room to walk in between the overly decorated tables and the maximum occupancy level has obviously been exceeded (along with the maximum amount of items that are allowed to be pink in a given space, but that’s just Howon’s opinion).

“I’ll be right with you!” A stout woman with a tight bun atop her head, yielding a ceramic tea pot, calls from further in the shop.

Howon and Woohyun watch as she maneuvers her way around tables, ducking just at the right moments to avoid headbutting cherubs that are flying over the tables and handing off her teapot to a house elf.

“How may I help you two today?” Madam Puddifoot asks, dusting her hand off on her ruffled apron.

“Table for two please,” Howon replies.

She grabs two menus (pink, of course) from under the wooden podium (again, painted pink). “Right this way,” she smiles cheerfully.  
She leads them into the cluster of tables and couples. After nearly tripping multiple times on chair legs and the legs of actual people, they find themselves standing next to a table in the center of the room.

“Is this alright for you?” Puddifoot motions to the table.

“If we sit here, Myungsoo and Sungyeol will see us for sure.” Howon mutters lowly to Woohyun.

“Uh, are there any other tables that are a little more out of the way?” The Slytherin’s tone is so surprisingly polite that Howon is almost impressed. “Maybe against a wall? Or perhaps behind a large potted plant?”

And the usual imbecile Woohyun returns. Howon nearly facepalms.

“Oh, I understand.” Puddifoot nods slowly and gives them a wink, before leading them to another table. “Why didn’t you say so before? There’s no need to be shy!”

“What?” But realization quickly dawns on Woohyun’s face in the form of a horrified and disgusted expression. “Wait, no! That’s not --”

“Just let it go.” Howon claps his hand down on Woohyun’s shoulders and pushes him forward to follow the shop owner.

The two boys are seated against the wall towards the back corner of the shop. Puddifoot hands them each a menu and gives them another wink and a giddy smile before flittering off to serve other customers.

“This is a pretty good spot,” Howon comments as he looks towards the entrance for any sign of their friends. “We can basically see all the tables so it shouldn’t matter where they sit and I don’t think they’ll see us right away when they come in.”

“What are you going to get?” Woohyun, barely hearing a word that came out of the Gryffindor’s mouth, already has his menu open and his eyes are skimming down the list of options.

Howon turns back towards him with a raised eyebrow. “You’re actually going to order something?”

“Well, yeah.” The Slytherin shrugs. “I mean, we’re already here so we might as well right? I think I’m going to go with the tea and lemon squares.”

“Tea and lemon squares?” Howon snorts, opening his own menu. “What are you? A sixty-eight year old grandmother?”

Woohyun huffs childishly. “At least I don’t play Quidditch like one.”

“Yeah, you’re more of a ninety year old one with almost gone eyesight,” Howon says, not glancing up from his menu.

Woohyun frowns and reaches for a small sugar bowl to throw at the smirking boy sitting across from him when Madam Puddifoot returns to their table.

“So what can I get for you two love bugs?”

“I’ll get a coffee and a plate of snickerdoodles.” Howon passes the women his menu with a sweet grin.

Woohyun rolls his eyes and mutters, “And he says I’m an elderly woman.”

The woman nods and turns to Woohyun. “And what about you, sweetheart?”

“Tea and lemon squares, please.” The Slytherin gives her an equally charming smile.

“Coming right up!”

“I think that was the first time I’ve ever heard you use the word ‘please’,” Howon says after Madam Puddifoot collects Woohyun’s menu and scurries off into the back area of the shop.

Woohyun scoffs, affronted. “Excuse you, I am a gentleman. A polite, refined -- What the bloody fuck?!”

Both boys flinch in their seats when a rain of pink descends onto their table and subsequently, their hair and clothes. They both look up to see a cherub hovering over their head with a woven basket hanging from its arm. It continues to toss endless handfuls of pieces of crepe paper and glitter on the two fifth years.

“Will you stop that?” Woohyun snaps.

The pink downpour pauses as the cherub slightly cringing away from him. It throws a final fistfull of confetti at Woohyun (Howon stifles his laugh into a snort) before turning its nose up in the air and flying over to another part of the shop.

“Ugh, stupid flying baby.” Woohyun grits his teeth and furiously dusts off his hair and clothes.

“You missed one.”

Woohyun stills when Howon reaches across the table to pluck a heart shaped piece of paper out of his hair. He blinks at the Gryffindor as Howon lets the confetti flutter to the ground and he swears he hears a high pitched, childlike giggle from another part of the room.

Howon notices Woohyun staring and gives him a strange look.

“What? Do I have glitter on my face or something?”

“What? Oh, no. Just -- thanks,” Woohyun finishes lamely and drops his eyes down to a small pile of glitter on the table.

A semi-awkward silence hangs in the air, which is really weird for Woohyun and Howon because usually, the two can never shut up.

Their orders arrive soon after and one comment from Howon about the amount of sugar Woohyun is putting in his tea puts an end to the silence. What starts off as bickering about proper sweetening techniques quickly transforms into an argument about whose dessert choice was best and then somehow leads into a fight of who is going to win the year’s Professional Quidditch League Championship (Howon says the Ballycastle Bats, Woohyun says Puddlemere United, but they both agree that the Appleby Arrows don’t stand a chance).

Throughout their conversation (it’s really more of a neverending debate), the two boys keep their eyes on the entrance, pausing momentarily and holding their breaths every time the chime about the door rings. When it’s not the couple they are hoping for, they pick up right where they left off without missing a beat, throwing their usual petty insults at each other as if nothing happened.

But after nearly two dozen snickerdoodles, a plate of lemon squares, and a few refills, Myungsoo and Sungyeol have yet to walk into the tea shop.

“It’s been almost an hour.” Howon sighs, glancing at his watch. “They’re not coming.”

“But they said they would,” Woohyun whines, flopping around in his seat with a pout.

“And you said this plan would work, but look where we are now,” Howon motions around them, “stuffed in the corner of an overly crowded coffee shop surrounded by hormonal teenagers who are making me slightly uncomfortable.” He shoots a glare at the couple sitting on the table next to theirs who have been making out for at least twenty minutes. Don’t they need to breathe or something? Howon shakes his head and takes another sip of his coffee.

“You can’t really blame them. This place is kinda romantic.”

“This,” Howon removes a piece of pink confetti from his mouth that somehow managed to make its way into his drink, “is not romantic.” He flicks it to the floor, lips pursed in distaste.

“Ugh fine, let’s get out of here.” Woohyun stands with a sigh and pulls out a few galleons from his pocket. He tosses them on the table and is about to head towards the door when Howon stops him.

“Wait, let me just get a to-go bag for the rest of these snickerdoodles before we leave.” The Gryffindor cranes his neck and raises a hand to get Madam Puddifoot’s attention.

Woohyun sinks back into the chair with an exaggerated sigh.

When Howon’s cookies are wrapped all nice and cozy in a heart adorned paper bag, the two boys make their way towards the exit, Woohyun a bit sulky from the failed plan and Howon happily munching on his snickerdoodles behind him.

Woohyun moves to grab the door knob when Madam Puddifoot catches his arm.

“You two are just a darling pair.” She giggles. “So cute and comfortable around each other. I’ve never seen another couple openly argue like that before. You two must have such a strong relationship. Come back soon, okay?”

Woohyun gapes at the woman’s assumption. He throws a quick glance at Howon who’s too busy counting his remaining cookies to hear their conversation. Woohyun considers trying to correct her again, telling her that _no_ , they are most definitely _not_ a couple. But instead, he ends up thinking ‘ _Screw it_ ’ and just nods with a tightlipped smile. He quickly hurls himself out of the shop before she can say anything more.

“Well, that was a bust.”

"These are the best. We should have gotten another dozen.”

  
**fast forward »**

 

“And that’s when you guys showed up.”

The table goes quiet. By this time, Dongwoo is already chugging down his fourth glass of butterbeer (and Sunggyu has already told him that he needs to stop at least three times). Howon and Woohyun aren’t quite sure if the expressions on Myungsoo and Sungyeol’s faces are ones of shock, disgust, or something in between.

“So basically,” Sungjong breaks the silence, “you went on a date.”

Another beat of silence before --

“NO!”

“Ewwww! That’s gross! How can you say that?”

“I would never go on a date with him. I have standards, you know?”

“Oh, like you’re even close to mine.”

“You’re right, I completely exceed them.”

“Oh, my god. Don’t even --”

Sunggyu sighs, annoyed. “They’re perfect for each other.”

Dongwoo simply giggles, a foam mustache on his upper lip.

“But you guys talked about Quidditch over tea and cookies.” Myungsoo interrupts their fight, suppressing a smile. “That kind of sounds like a date to me.”

“Technically, I had coffee,” Howon mumbles.

“Oh, what kind?” Sungyeol’s eyes light up at the mention of the hot drink. “Was it good?”

Howon opens his mouth to answer when Woohyun cuts him off. “You would know if you showed up to the tea shop like you said you would. Where did you guys go anyway?”

“Potage’s Cauldron Shop and Tomes and Scrolls like we said. We were going to head over the Puddifoot’s but I guess we lost track of time ...”

“Lost track of time?” Woohyun repeats Sungyeol’s words slowly. “Lost track of time?! I’m going to have glitter and heart confetti in my hair for weeks and you _lost track of time_?! Why do I even bother?” The Slytherin overdramatically throws himself onto his side, laying flat on the wooden bench.

Howon shakes his head with a sigh. “I still can’t believe after everything, you guys still haven’t had your first kiss.”

“Actually about that …” Myungsoo lets out a nervous laugh and glances at Sungyeol.

Woohyun springs back up and looks at the couple, unblinking. “What happened? Did you two kiss? Sungyeol, please tell me you kissed him.”

“Sorry, but no,” Sungyeol grins sheepishly.

“So Myungsoo kissed first!” Howon is practically beaming as he bounces in his seat. “Ha! In your face Nam! I knew I would win.”

“Uh, I didn't kiss first either. Sorry.” Myungsoo shrugs with a small laugh.

“Then who kissed who?” Sungjong asks as Howon and Woohyun stare at their friends, not understanding the situation at all.

“Technically, neither of us kissed first,” Sungyeol says slowly.

“What?” Woohyun snaps, very frustrated but still very confused.

The Ravenclaw sighs, his ears starting to turn slightly red. “When we were in Tomes and Scrolls, I guess someone left a book on the ground. And Myungsoo, being Myungsoo, tripped on it and I tried to catch him and … yeah.”

Myungsoo ducks his head slightly, lips twisted in embarrassment as the other boys let the information sink in.

“So I win,” Woohyun states suddenly.

Howon turns to him, eyebrows drawn together. “Huh? No, you don’t.”

“Yes I do. Sungyeol could have just let Myungsoo fall. But he moved to catch Myungsoo, therefore making him responsible for the kiss.”

“But Myungsoo was the one who tripped,” Howon counters. “And if they kissed while he was falling, by laws of gravity, he kissed Sungyeol. So I won.”

“No! _I_ won!”

“No. _I_ won!”

Sungyeol sighs and rubs his temples as the two rivals argue once again.

Myungsoo buries his face in his hands to hide the flustered blush blooming from his cheeks.

Sunggyu shakes his head and shares a look with Sungjong, muttering “Like I said, perfect for each other.”

And Dongwoo slams his now empty mug down and then proceeds to face plant into the table in a heap of snores. He was always a sleepy drunk.

 

\-- -- -- --

 

“Look at them,” Woohyun sneers at the couple walking in front of them as they make their way back to the castle. He scoffs when Sungyeol pulls Myungsoo closer to his side and whispers something into the younger boy’s ear. He stares daggers at their interlocked hands. “They make me sick.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t win.” Howon mumbles more to himself than anyone. “All of that for nothing! I mean, we tied, which means I didn't lose, but I didn't win either. And I didn’t even start studying for my Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L.” He sends at sharp gaze at Woohyun. “If I get a Troll, it’s all your fault.”

“ _My_ fault?! Blame them!” The Slytherin points an accusing finger at Myungsoo and Sungyeol. “They’re the ones who took forever and an eternity to kiss! And it was an accident!”

“I guess I kind of understand them though.” Howon shrugs. “I mean, first kisses aren’t something you ‘just do.’”

“But it’s so easy,” Woohyun whines. “All you gotta do is --”

Without thinking (obviously), Woohyun grabs Howon by the face and presses their mouths together. It’s not quite a kiss, should barely be even considered a peck. But when he pulls back, the Gryffindor is staring at him, wide eyed and lips slightly parted in shock. Woohyun quickly removes his hands from Howon’s face and stuffs them in his pockets.

A _very_ thick and _very_ awkward silence ensues as the two fifth years stand a foot apart in the middle of the snow covered trail.

“If anyone asks, this didn’t happen. If they say they saw us, call them crazy and slap them across the face. If that doesn’t work, just put a confundus charm on them and make a break for it. We never speak of this and I still hate you,” Woohyun rushes out in one breath.

Howon blinks and nods. “Yes. Never again." They resume walking. "And I hate you more.”

  
**stop ■**


End file.
